Was the king a judge

August 15th, 2018

Question:

I’m looking at Devarim 17:9. Ibn Ezra says hashofeit refers to the king, possibly because of the hei prefix. Was the king a judge eg Shmuel 2 12:1 and Melachim 1 3:16? What cases would go to the king as opposed to a Sanhedrin?
Someone told me the following
“i think the Ran in Sanhedrin claims that most all decision by BD in modern times, is m’din Melech, and m’din BD”
Do you know where the Ran says this?

Answer:

While I am not familiar with the Ran that you are referring to. However the Ran in Drashos HaRan in the beginning of Drush 11, explains that there essentially are two types of mishpat that are needed. The first is to know the truth, and who is correct when there is a dispute between two people. Secondly there is a need for mishpat, in order to keep the country running properly, and according to the specific needs, of the hour. The Sanhedrin rook care of the mishpat of what is the truth according to the mitvos of the torah. The king however was in charge of making sure that the country as a whole was running smoothly, and that people were not corrupting things, and causing damage to the country, in a moral, ethical, or physical way.

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